Govt needs to complement intent with concrete roadmap to boost tourism

Despite being blessed with a vast network of tourist destinations, ranging from picture-perfect landscapes to heritage sites, tourism potential in India remains largely untapped.Being a highly labour-intensive sector, the tourism sector can generate large-scale, good-quality employment. According to the ‘Report on Working Group on Tourism’, the travel and tourism sector was projected to generate 780 jobs in India per Rs 1 crore of investment compared to 450 jobs in the manufacturing sector for a similar investment. Fully understanding the tourism sector’s role in India’s growth story, Budget 2023-24 has also laid a big emphasis on the tourism sector and talked of promoting the tourism sector on Mission mode.

For FY24, this budget has earmarked an expenditure of Rs 2,400 crore. The government intends to develop 50 tourist destinations as a complete package. While the efforts of the government to promote domestic tourist traffic by further strengthening ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative and appealing to the middle class to prefer domestic tourism over international tourism is laudable, an equal or more amount of energy also needs to be channelised to promote international traffic of tourists.

There exists much more scope to increase the footfall of international tourists in India. As also evidenced in Economic Survey (2021-22), the number of foreign tourist arrivals in India increased only from 2 million to 11 million between 1990 and 2019 (pre pandemic year), while domestic tourist arrivals increased comparatively at a better rate from around 60 million to approximately 2.32 billion during 1990-2019. India accounted for a mere 1.2 per cent share in international tourist arrivals and ranked 23rd globally for the same in 2019.

In 2022, foreign tourists’ arrival fell to 6 million. Focusing on international tourists, the draft National Tourism Policy also aims at making India one of the top 5 destinations in the world in terms of both international arrivals and international tourism receipts by 2030 and the most sought-after travel destination in the world by 2047. However, to turn this vision into reality, it is crucial to take some concrete steps on an immediate basis.

The most prudent strategy to attract foreign travelers would be to focus on niche areas. Medical tourism accounted for 6.4 per cent of all foreign arrivals in India in 2019. According to the economic survey, India is ranked 10th out of the top 64 countries in the world in the Medical Tourism Index FY21. The main contributor to the burgeoning medical tourism sector is the lower costs of tertiary healthcare and relatively high quality of medical treatment in India in comparison to other countries. For instance, a heart bypass surgery in India costs as low as $7900, which is the lowest among major destinations for medical tourism like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkey, and South Korea. However, to leverage this potential, it is essential to incentivise and develop clusters of hospitals to facilitate access to foreign tourists.

In order to attract more international tourists, India must increase investment and leverage public-private partnership models in healthcare at a faster pace. Leveraging new business models like telemedicine can further enhance the sector’s productivity. Additionally, the scope of medical tourism can be expanded to develop India into a hub for spiritual and wellness tourism, as the country has much to offer in Ayurveda and Yoga. There is an increasing focus on spiritual tourism. With its long history and rich philosophy, there is increasing scope for India to attract people looking to elevate their physical, mental, and emotional energies by pursuing the spiritual path.

While the attraction of India as a tourist destination is beyond doubt, the focus must be laid on facilitating and smoothening access and experience. It is important to simplify the process of registering online with the Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO). Establishing FRRO help-desks at major Indian airports and hospitals will provide visitors with the information to complete the process online. Also, the number of annual visits allowed under an e-medical visa should be enhanced. Currently, e-medical visa holders are allowed three repeat visits during their one-year visa period. And this may not be sufficient for patients who require follow-up/ post-operative care. Also, the number of accompanying persons with e-medical visa holders may be increased under the same visa, as has been

done in countries like Malaysia.

The coming years are also going to witness the increasing importance of digital tourism. Emerging technologies like the metaverse have the potential to transform the tourist experience and engagement at destinations. Because of the metaverse, travelers can experience 3D hotel tours before confirming the booking. Information such as facilities,

hotel room size, décor, and amenities can be experienced before-hand before the actual visit. This is likely to save tourist’s time and avoid unnecessary hassle, thus enriching tourist experience. While new and emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) provide a plethora of opportunities to enhance destination reach and tourist experience, it is vital to recognise these opportunities earlier and establish institutional capabilities to exploit these technologies. A dedicated national technological tourism roadmap can hence be formulated to realize the full potential of the tourism sector.

Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) is an early filler to ensure that infrastructure has early utilisation. With infrastructure amenities constantly improving, India is increasingly the preferred destination for MICE events. Tribal arts, crafts, and eco-tourism provide novelty with good synergies with MICE. Forest-based resorts and HORECA (HOtel, REstaurant, CAfe) are complementary to attracting services employers. Leisure travel is re-

gaining popularity in India.

Furthermore, targeted promotional campaigns of tourist circuits can be undertaken in major regions of the world. These regions can be divided on the basis of income levels, climate, or socio-economic conditions. Accordingly, market research can be undertaken to identify consumer preferences, factors determining the selection of destination, and seasonality of travel. And tourism campaigns must be designed based on market research for better outcomes.

Apart from the naturally endowed scenic beauty of tourist destinations, the availability of good infrastructure, maintenance of law and order, and user-friendly basic amenities are other essential requirements for promoting tourism. The tourism industry needs to be given higher priority status. MICE and eco-tourism have enormous potential. Tourism

infrastructure projects, viz., hotels, resorts, equipment, parks, etc., having a project cost of more than INR 1 crore should be notified as ‘infrastructure’ to enable entrepreneurs to take credit on a priority basis. Furthermore, there is a need to upgrade existing infrastructure at major tourist places, and such infrastructure maintenance can be leased out to private players. Besides, even undertaking small steps aimed at facilitating the ease of travelling like creating common passes to visit multiple heritage sites, providing foreign exchange counters at each tourist site, and operating tourist information centres professionally can play a big role in increasing tourist traffic in India.

The government has rightly shown the intent to boost the tourism sector, but if this intent also gets complemented by a concrete roadmap and an effective implementation strategy, Indian tourism sector can contribute significantly to generating employment-intensive growth in the country.

Monika IES is a Research Officer and Dr Badri Narayanan is a Fellow and Former Lead Adviser at NITI Aayog. Views are personal.